Most people who follow sports do not realize that Jon Gruden, the Super Bowl-winning coach is a graduate of the University of Dayton.

Gruden, who most people say looks like the movie doll “Chuckie”, was quarterback for the Dayton Flyers football team in the 1980′s and led the team to a couple of Stagg Bowls.

He is a proud alumnus and watches the Flyers basketball team on ESPN when he can.

He was instrumental in Dayton’s 87-72 win over the Xavier Musketeers on Saturday afternoon at UD Arena.

Gruden, wearing his old Dayton football lettermen’s jacket, was asked by basketball head coach Archie Miller to talk to the players at an 8 a.m. film session and give them a pep talk. He told the players to “go out, play hard and share the ball.” The players listened and were grateful that Gruden came back to talk to the team.

Before a sellout crowd of 13, 435, the Flyers did everything Gruden told them as they blasted the Musketeers.

(courtesy of Dayton athletics)

Junior Matt Kavanaugh scored 20 points while hauling down 9 rebounds, and junior point guard Kevin Dillard, who was selected the Blackburn/McCafferty Trophy, which goes to the game’s MVP, had 16 points and nine assists as the Dayton took control of first place in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Overall, UD is 14-5, 4-1 while Xavier falls to 13-6, 4-2. The other A-10 top teams have at least two losses.

The Flyers worked the ball around the perimeter in the half-court offense and were able to score at will from 3-point land, getting second and third chances on the offensive rebounds and just basically outhustled the more-publicized Musketeers.

Dayton built up an 18-point lead in the 2nd half, and Xavier could not get it under 11 the rest of the game.

The Flyers frustrated Xavier stars Tu Holloway and Mark Lyons all game and it showed. They missed open shots and layups and could not score at will in previous matchups. Holloway scored 21 and Lyons 20, but most of those points came after the game had long been decided. They were the only Musketeers in double figures scoring.

Kevin Dillard (courtesy of Dayton athletics)

On the other hand, the Flyers had four players in double figures to support Kavanaugh and Dillard. Josh Parker added 16 and Paul Williams scored 13. Dayton also dominated the paint eventhough Xavier has 7-footer Kenny Frease, scoring 28 points and the bench play went to the Flyers, who are deeper, 27-16.

It was obvious that Xavier head coach Chris Mack was upset with his team’s intensity from the game’s outset. The Muskies did not come out at halftime until there was only 2:49 left on the clock.

The next matchup will come in February on the 18th at the Cintas Center where Dayton has never won and has had some nightmarish games. Maybe this might be the year to sweep Xavier.

There are not too many college basketball teams who can claim stake to having won a basketball game at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati. Even the Dayton Flyers, Xavier’s chief arch-rival, who plays there every year, has never won at the Cintas Center.

It is the home of the Xavier Musketeers.

The Oral Roberts University Golden Eagles can say they won in the 11-year-old building.

Dominique Morrison scored 19 points to lead ORU over previously unbeaten Xavier, 64-42. The Musketeers had no rhythm in their play because they were missing three of its starters who were suspended.

The Golden Eagles (8-4) are a very experienced team starting three seniors and two juniors.

The 8-1 Musketeers were without star point guard Tu Holloway, shooting guard Mark Lyons and freshman forward Dez Wells who are the team’s top scorers. The trio were suspended for their part in a brawl eight days ago against the Cincinnati Bearcats.

CINCINNATI — Xavier University Associate Vice President and Athletic Director Mike Bobinski announced today that four XU men’s basketball student-athletes will serve suspensions as a result of their parts in yesterday’s incidents at the Crosstown Shootout. Bobinski made the announcement on behalf of Xavier and the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Xavier AD Mike Bobinski

Freshman Dezmine Wells, who had a mandatory one game suspension for being ejected from the game for fighting, has been given an additional three games by Xavier and will serve a four-game suspension. Sophomore Landen Amos has also been given a four-game suspension. Junior Mark Lyons will serve a two-game suspension. Senior Tu Holloway will serve a one-game suspension.

“I have been working closely with Atlantic 10 Conference Commissioner Bernadette McGlade and the A-10 staff since yesterday afternoon,” said Bobinski. “We have all thoroughly reviewed the video evidence from a variety of sources. The Atlantic 10 fully supports our decisions on the suspensions announced today.

“We accept full responsibility for our part in the events that occurred at the end of our game yesterday. It was both embarrassing and disappointing and clearly did not reflect the standards of behavior we expect from our student-athletes. We resolve to do whatever is necessary to prevent an incident like this from occurring in the future. Additionally, we regret the poorly-chosen words our student-athletes used in the post-game press conference and have addressed the matter with them.”

In the 79th meeting between these two squads, Xavier was able to improve its record to 8-0. The Musketeers have won four of the last five match ups. With the loss, Cincinnati falls to 5-3 on the season.

The last 9.4 seconds of the game never expired due to an ugly brawl broke out near the UC bench. The brawl started when XU’s Tu Holloway said something to Bearcats guard Ge’Lawn Guyn. Musketeers’ Dezmine Wells pushed Guyn to the floor and both benches emptied. The referee’s restored order but declared the game over.

Lyons led the game with 19 points off 6-of-11 shooting from the floor, 3-of-5 from downtown and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. Holloway added 17 points (6-of-10). He was a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe, dropped six dimes and posted a steal. Wells dropped 14 points and brought down six boards. Kenny Frease recorded his first double-double of the season bringing down a game-high 13 boards and scoring 13 points.

Xavier took control of the second half going on a 9-2 run to open up the second frame. Cincinnati got within 10 points off a Yancy Gates jumper with 14:40, but that was the closest the Bearcats would get.

Xavier shot 51.8 percent from the floor for the game to Cincinnati’s 27.9 percent. The Musketeers outrebounded the Bearcats 40-36 and scored 36 points in the paint to UC’s 24. XU also held the advantage in points off turnovers (16-8), fast break points (12-2) while UC held the advantage in second chance points at 14-10.

There were six lead changes and eight ties in the first frame. Xavier was able to pull away towards the last six minutes of the half and go on a 12-2 run to end the half. The Musketeers held the Bearcats without a field goal from the 6:23 mark until 55.8.

Xavier hit 46.2 percent of its shots in the first half to Cincinnati’s 32.1 field goal percentage. The Bearcats did not connect on a trey in the first half, while Xavier was 3-of-8, including two from Lyons.

Cincinnati was led by Yancy Gates who had a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds.